Quarter of women over 55 have no private pension

One in four female homeowners over the age of 55 have no private pension, according to research from SunLife.

In a poll of more than 1,000 homeowners over 55, 24% of women said they had no savings stashed away in a private pension, compared to only 6% of men.

The study also showed that 22% of women believed they were financially worse off at this stage of their lives than they expected, while 14% of men felt the same.

Most respondents blamed rising living costs for being financially worse off in 2019, followed by subdued interest rates offering poor returns on savings over the last decade.

Both issues have sparked concerns among experts that large volumes of people nearing retirement will struggle to fund it.

Simon Stanney, equity release director at SunLife, said:

"While there will be many women who do not have a private pension but will benefit from their partners', there will still be some women over 55 who simply do not have sufficient means to fund their retirement."